Gratitude, Giving, and the Origin of Sing We Now of Christmas

Gratitude is easiest to name when life feels abundant, but it becomes most meaningful when it changes what we do. On Thanksgiving Day in 2011, I wrote about the blessings I could see around me: family, faith, freedom, music, writing, and the people who had encouraged me. That reflection became the beginning of a charitable Christmas publishing project.

Originally published November 24, 2011. Substantially revised and expanded July 2026.

The Blessings I Wanted to Remember

I was grateful to live in a place where I could pursue the dream of becoming an author. I was grateful for my wife and children, for opportunities to sing with the Tabernacle Choir, and for readers, teachers, editors, friends, and family members who had helped my creative work move forward.

Those blessings did not mean that everything in life was easy. Gratitude is not a requirement to ignore difficulty. It is the practice of recognizing gifts, relationships, and possibilities that remain present even when other parts of life are uncertain.

From Receiving to Giving

As Thanksgiving turned toward the Christmas season, I wanted to focus less on what I might receive and more on what I could offer. Writing was one of the resources available to me, and I began imagining a project that could gather many writers around a shared purpose.

The original concept was smaller than the book that eventually emerged: a collection of short stories, each inspired by a different Christmas song, with proceeds supporting the National Down Syndrome Society. The first outline included twelve stories. As the project developed, it expanded into twenty-five stories—one for every day from December 1 through Christmas Day.

Bryson and the Charitable Purpose

The cause was personal. My son Bryson has Down syndrome. His life has brought our family joy, growth, questions, challenges, and a deeper appreciation for the worth and potential of every person.

I wanted the anthology to support an organization working for people with Down syndrome and their families. The charitable goal also gave contributors a reason to donate their creative work and helped the collection become more than a seasonal publishing experiment.

The First Call for Stories

The original announcement invited family-friendly submissions based on Christmas songs. Writers could choose a carol, hymn, or seasonal song and build an original story around its title, history, imagery, or message.

Looking back, the administrative details of that old call for submissions are no longer useful. The deadline passed long ago, and the contact information should not remain as though the project were still accepting manuscripts. What remains valuable is the way a Thanksgiving reflection became a practical plan.

How the Idea Grew

• The initial twelve-story concept expanded into a full Advent structure.
• Writers from different places and genres contributed distinct interpretations of Christmas music.
• The collection balanced humorous, historical, devotional, and emotionally serious stories.
• Editing and production turned a charitable idea into a finished book readers could use as a tradition.
• The project led to further interest in Christmas carol history, sacred music, and seasonal storytelling.

Gratitude Needs a Direction

A list of blessings can remain private and still be worthwhile. Yet gratitude often becomes more powerful when it points outward. A person grateful for education can teach. A person grateful for friendship can reach out to someone lonely. A person grateful for creative gifts can use them to entertain, comfort, preserve memory, or support a cause.

The anthology was one attempt to give gratitude a direction. It joined writing, Christmas music, family experience, and charitable purpose in a form I could not have created alone.

What I Learned from the Beginning

• Begin with the resources already available to you.
• Let a personal connection clarify the purpose of the project.
• Invite collaborators with specific expectations and a shared mission.
• Allow the project to grow when a stronger structure becomes visible.
• Remove expired instructions while preserving the history and meaning behind them.

A Thanksgiving Idea That Became an Advent Tradition

The post that originally announced the anthology was written before I knew exactly what the finished collection would become. That uncertainty is part of the story. Creative projects often begin as an imperfect invitation: a theme, a deadline, a hope, and a willingness to see who joins you.

Sing We Now of Christmas eventually became a twenty-five-story Advent anthology. Its origin remains rooted in a Thanksgiving desire to turn gratitude into giving.

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Read how the completed collection came together in Sing We Now of Christmas: A Charity Advent Anthology. To see how this anthology relates to the carol-history devotional, podcast, audiobooks, translations, music, and other seasonal writing, visit Christmas Books, Stories & Music.